New Season 2015-2016 at the Semperoper in Dresden

This Wednesday morning, I have received the program book for the 2015-2016 season at the Semperoper in Dresden.

The following operas will be performed with new productions :

- Albert Lortzing : Der Wildschütz, conducted by Asher Fisch, directed by Jens-Daniel Herzog ;
- John Harbison : The Great Gatsby, conducted by Wayne Marshall, directed by Keith Warner (European première) ;
- Pietro Mascagni : Cavalleria rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo : Pagliacci, conducted by Stefano Ranzani and directed by Philipp Stölzl ;
- Paul Hindemith : Mathis der Maler, conducted by Simone Young, directed by Jochen Biganzoli ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Don Giovanni, conducted by Omer Meir Wellber, directed by Andreas Kriegenburg ;
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky : Eugene Onegin, conducted by Pietari Inkinen, directed by Markus Bothe;
- Viktor Ullmann : Der Kaiser von Atlantis, conducted by Johannes Wulff-Woesten, directed by Christiane Lutz (Semper 2).

In fact, Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci will be performed in Salzburg during the 2015 Easter Festival, later this month.

The following productions will be revived :

- Georges Bizet : Carmen, directed by Axel Köhler (first performed in September 2013) ;
- Gaetano Donizetti : L'Elisir d'amore, directed by Michael Schulz (first performed in April 2012) ;
- Charles Gounod : Faust, directed by Keith Warner (first performed in June 2010) ;
- Georg Friedrich Händel : Alcina, directed by Jan Philipp Gloger (first performance in October 2011) ;
- Georg Friedrich Händel :Giulio Cesare, directed by Jens-Daniel Herzog (first performed in December 2009) ;
- Georg Friedrich Händel :Orlando, directed by Andreas Kriegenburg (first performed in January 2013) ;
- Engelbert Humperdinck : Hänsel und Gretel, directed by Katharina Thalbach (first performed in December 2006) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Le nozze di Figaro, directed by Johannes Erath (this production will be performed for the first time next June) ;
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Die Zauberflöte, directed by Achim Freyer (first performed in Dresden probably in 2006, considering that Freyer directed this opera as soon as 1982 in Hamburg) ;
- Giacomo Puccini : La Bohème, directed by Christine Mielitz (this production is more than 22 years old) ;
- Giacomo Puccini : Tosca, directed by Johannes Schaaf (first performed in January 2009) ;
- Peter Ronnefeld : Nachtausgabe, directed by Manfred Weiß (first performed in October 2014) ;
- Gioachino Rossini : Il barbiere di Siviglia, directed by Grischa Asagaroff (performed in Dresden since at least April 2008, but also in Zurich from 1991 to 2007) ;
- Johann Strauß : Die Fledermaus, directed by Günter Krämer (first performance in December 2003) ;
- Richard Strauss : Arabella, directed by Florentine Klepper (first performed in Dresden in November 2014, original production for the 2014 Easter Festival in Salzburg) ;
- Richard Strauss : Elektra, directed by Barbara Frey (first performed in January 2014) :
- Giuseppe Verdi : Don Carlo, directed by Eike Gramss (first performed in October 2003) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : Macbeth, directed by Philipp Himmelmann (first performed in October 2005) ;
- Giuseppe Verdi : La Traviata, directed by Andreas Homoki (first performed in Dresden in October2009, but already performed in Leipzig and other German Cities in 2004) ;
- Richard Wagner : Der fliegende Holländer, directed by Florentine Klepper (first performance in June 2013) ;
- Richard Wagner : Lohengrin, directed by Christine Mielitz (this production is more than 22 years old) ;
- Richard Wagner : Die Walküre, directed by Willy Decker (first performance in November 2001) ;
- Carl Maria von Weber : Der Freischütz, directed by Axel Köhler (first performance next May) ;

Therefore, 31 operas by 20 composers in 5 languages will be performed next season. There will be one opera from the 21st Century, and another one contemporary. This season covers quite well the complete history of opera and its various genres.